Machine for purifying liquids



A. E. FLOWERS MACHINE FOR PURIFYING LIQUIDS Filed May 2e, 1941 /mz EF/wefs March 9, 1943.

Patented Mar. 9, 1943 2,313,541 MACHINE Foa PURIFYING LrQUms Alan E.Flowers, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., assignor to The De Laval SeparatorCompany, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application May26, 1941, Serial No. 395,153

1 Claim.

My invention relates to the removal of objectionable matter fromliquids, and comprises a novel type of centrifugal separator adapted toeffect this result with maximum efficiency. The invention isparticularly adapted for removal of reaction products from vegetable andanimal and other oils which have been chemically treated to neutralizedeleterious constituents therein.

It is well known that in both gravity and centrifugal treatments it isrelatively easy to remove a major portion of reaction products while itis relatively dimcult to remove a small minor portion of these products.It is also Well known that many of these products are easily soluble inwater or other liquids having a greater speciflc gravity than the oilbeing treated and it is II enclosing another feed passage from whichcommon practice to carry out rst a gravity or centrifugal separation ofmost of the reaction products and then follow with a wash with asuitable liquid and cause a second independent gravity or centrifugalseparation of the wash liquid and accompanying impurities.

When such a two-step separation has been carried on in the past it hasrequired the use of two centrifugal machines in series, or the storageof primarily separated liquid until after treatment of an entire batchand then the use of the same separator, perhaps with a differentadjustment, for the removal of wash liquid with its containedimpurities.

Specifically, the object of my invention is to provide a centrifugalbowl in which these primary and secondary purification steps may beeffected in a single centrifugal operation, that is, to provide a singlecentrifugal bowl in which the primary separation of a major portion ofthe impurities takes place rst, followed by the dissemination of awashing liquid through the partially purified liquid and the separationof that wash liquid and its contained impurities therefrom so that bothoperations can be eected in "`a single pass.

several -channels l2 lead. Up to this pointthe construction is in themanner of the Hall patent before mentioned and is therein clearly shownand described.

Each of the channels I2 terminates at the entrance I3 to a tube I 4which communicates with the interior of the-separating chamber of thebow1 through only tiny slits or holes I5 in the tube wall so arrangedthat they feed to the spaces between the discs 2l. In the upper part ofthe bowl a top disc I6 provides a division wall between the separatingchamber of the bowl and the passages I'I leading to the discharge outlet6. Passages also lead from the inner edges of the discs 2l upward insidethe neck of the top disc I6 to the outlet I8 for the discharge of thelight oil. I Y

Wings I9 between the bowl top 5 and the top disc I6 and wings 20 securedto the bowl shell and extending inward' to near the outer edge of thediscs 2|, force the bowl contents to continue rotating at the same speedas the bowl. Wings 28 and 21 attached to the walls of the tubes Il and Irespectively, force the incoming liquids to assume a speed of rotationequal to that of the bowl. Covers 22 are supplied to provide chambers tocatch the materials discharged from the bowl. .Supported by suitablemeans are two concentric supply tubes 23 and 24 which extend down insidethe upper ends of the tubes II and 1 respectively.

While the bowl is useful for the removal of reaction products from anyliquids, among which are vegetable, animal and mineral oils and othersubstances. in which chemical or physical treatment has producedmaterials having a specific gravity different from that or the liquidbeing i treated andl soluble in or combinable with some washing liquids,I will describe its use for only one class, vegetable oils, which. whenseparated from the vegetable matter in which they originated, containobjectionable acid materials that can be neutralized with alkalies andthen form water soluble soaps.

Only a few o'f these In the operation of the bowl, alkali treated oilcontaining the resultant soap is fed to the bowl through the tube 24,flows downward through passages 8 inside the tube 1 and outward throughchannels s to the entrance to the distributing holes 25 in the discs 2|,thence upward through the distributing holes and spreads out between thediscs. There a major portion ofthe soap is separated from the oil andflows outward to the periphery of the bowl, then upward and inwardbetween the top disc It and the bowl top, and v soapmotpreviouslyiremcved. 'water' and soap flows outward between the; discsand .10ml with. and flaws out of the bowl with,

' the previously separated maior portion of the p. e washed oilcontinues its flow toward the vcenter ofthe bowl, thence upward andldischarges at i8. -1

By placing the distributing holes 25 near `the periphery of the discsand the wash water feeding tubes Il near their inner edges. a longcounterilow of the water and oil with consequent good washing of the oilis obtained.

What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

-In a centrifugal separator for the separation from a liquid containingimpurities of heavier specific gravity than the liquid, comprising aseparating bowl and contained therein a plurality of frusto-conicaldiscs providing a plurality of a frusta-conical separating chambers,means to feed the impure liquid to said separating chambers through saiddiscs between their inner and outer edges, in which chambers, under theaction of centrifugal force, said liquid with a. minor part of itsimpurities is separable from vthe major part of its impurities and isdisplaced inward toward the bowls axis while the separated impuritiesmove outward toward the periphery, and means to disseminate awashingliquid heavier than the-1iquld to be puried throughout saidseparated partially puried liquid, said means including a. supplyconduit extending through said bowl and having outlets which open intothe inner parts of said separating chambers and nearer the axis oi.' thebowl'than the admission] means for the impure liquid andfwhich' are sorestricted as to effect 'distribution, ther'eby causing combinationofs'aid washing liquid 'g with the impurities in the partially purinedliquid.- yand the. separation of saidwashing liquid and impuritiesfromvsubstantially purified liquid and movement of said washingliquidand impurities outward through said separating .chambers'toward thebowls periphery, the separator having the usual outlets for lighter andheavier separated constituents through which are respectiveb' dischargedthe purified liquid and the washing liquid and impurities.

ma FLOWERS. i

